The final round: Boxing Bear Brewing Co. bids farewell to Corrales location, hosts several events in April

Apr. 12—Boxing Bear Brewing Company has its April calendar filled with fun beer release parties and a farewell bash.

It will be saying goodbye to its Corrales location with "A Final Bearwell ..." party from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 26 at the taproom, located at 10200 Corrales Road NW. The event will feature live music by the Silver Sky Blues Band. Several craft vendors and the Tomboy Tako food truck will also be at the event.

"That decision happened a couple years ago when we outgrew the brewing facility," said Kevin Davis, Boxing Bear executive partner and owner, of the Corrales taproom closure. "We originally opened there as our main brewery and we had a taproom associated with it. It was a great location for us. We really love the area, the community out there, Corrales, and all that, but we kind of outgrew it."

Davis said more space was needed for the brewing operation and for storage. Boxing Bear ended up buying its current Firestone location at 8420 Firestone Lane NE, to accommodate those needs.

"Even though we loved that taproom and we loved the patio and we truly wanted to keep that taproom, we just couldn't make it work because we have 8,200 square feet over there, whereas we're only using 2,400 of those 8,200," Davis explained of the Corrales location. "So in other words, we're paying rent on a huge facility that we're only using 25% of. The landlord wanted to keep the whole thing intact and we just decided the easiest move for us would be just to close that down and keep our eyes open for another location on the West Side."

Not all is lost for those on the West Side. Davis said the Firestone location is a few minutes away from the Corrales location.

"Our Firestone location is literally four and half minutes from the Corrales location, just straight down Alameda," Davis said. "It seems like it's a lot further but it's really pretty close."

The Firestone location has several events planned for April. The Mashing Queen Juicy Pale Ale release party will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 13. DJ Clout and several local vendors will take part in the event. More information can be found at boxingbearbrewing.com.

The juicy pale ale was brewed at the Firestone in collaboration with the Pink Boots Society New Mexico chapter. The Pink Boots Society supports women and nonbinary individuals in the fermented beverage industry. Cami O'Brien, Boxing Bear brewer, created the recipe for Mashing Queen that is brewed with a special Pink Boots hop blend created by Yakima Chief Hops.

"It's a juicy pale ale so what that means is it's like somewhere between a hazy pale ale and American pale ale where it is going to have all of the aroma and flavor of the hops without being as bitter," said Justin Hamilton, Boxing Bear director of brewing operations and owner. "So it's really focusing on the flavors and aromas coming from those hops."

Next up at the Firestone location is Books & Brews from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 18. Boxing Bear is collaborating with locally-owned Bookworks for the book fair.

"It's kind of meant to spark a bit of nostalgia of going to the book fair when you were in elementary school," said Astrid Galarza, Boxing Bear events coordinator. "This is geared more toward adults. The genre of the books and just the other materials that are for sale are going to be geared more toward adults."

In celebration of 4/20, the Firestone location will host the Glass Pushers Beer Release Party from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. The 4/20-themed party will be held in conjunction with YooDab, a local wholesale glass and smoking supply company. Live entertainment and food options will be part of the event.

"We're doing a cross promotional with them where basically they sell glass, we sell beer in glass, so we're calling it Glass Pushers Pale Ale," Hamilton said of the commemorative 4/20 beer release. "That's going to be another pale ale, but this one is going to be centered more toward those aromatic American hops that just have those really big oils and that presence of herbal, citrus and pine."